Various dispenser have been disclosed in the patent literature for holding particulate material therein to enable it to be dispensed in metered amounts therefrom. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,811 there is disclosed a hand-held device for dispensing metered amounts of pharmaceuticals. The device includes a storage chamber, a rotatable dosing unit located below the storage chamber, an operating unit to rotate the dosing unit with respect to the storage chamber. The dosing unit includes plural upwardly opening recesses which communicate individually and sequentially with the storage chamber via an outlet. Resilient scrapers are disposed within the outlet immediately above the recesses to pack and level the particulate material into to recesses as the dosing unit is rotated. The dispenser includes a dispensing tube in communication with the dosing unit so that each recess can be brought into selective communication with the tube to enable the contents thereof to flow through the dispensing tube out a hole at the top end thereof when the dispenser is inverted.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,737 (Brojesson) there is disclosed a hand-held device for dispensing metered amounts of ground coffee. The dispenser has a container with a discharge opening it its bottom. A rotor covers the bottom and has vanes which define a plurality of dispensing compartments. A wiper covers the rotor in the vicinity of the discharge opening and tapers upward at a steep angle so that hard packed coffee will slide downward. A drive mechanism is provided to move one dispensing compartment at a time to the discharge opening so that the coffee can drop thereout.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,007,612 (Tepper) there is disclosed a device for mounting on a coffee can to dispense metered amounts of ground coffee. The dispenser has a rotatable member including plural coffee receiving cavities so that one or more cavities can be filled and dispensed by inverting the combination.
Examples of other particulate material dispensers are found in the following U.S. Pat. No. 2,196,721 (Boyle), U.S. Pat. No. 3,018,924 (Reed), U.S. Pat. No. 3,308,995 (Lee), U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,660 (Botto), U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,929 (Srisathapat), U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,350 (Zelickson), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,233 (Zelickson).
While the foregoing prior art devices may be suitable for their intended purposes each still leaves much to be desired from one or more standpoints, e.g., ability to dispense preselected multiple quantities of a particulate material at a single time, ease of use, simplicity of construction, aesthetically pleasing appearance.